Age of the Soulless
Age of the Soulless is a storyline saga that was created by RoachTheIntelCollector on November 18th, 2018. It is the eighteenth storyline saga of the Roach Chronicles. It is preceded by The Eclipse War saga and is succeeded by Balance and Order. Like all of Roach's previous works, it features five zombies maps. The story picks up shortly after the events of Sanctum of Blood, and follows SEAL Team Five as they attempt to prevent the ancient Prophets of the Soulless and their leader Echthroi from evoking an ancient prophecy that oversees the resurrection of both Roach and Xarcoh as one entity: the Dark Soldier, a being capable of engulfing the entire universe in eternal darkness. The saga serves as the third and final part of the Dark Seeker Trilogy. Story Forgotten Past In the Arc 1 universe, shortly after the fall of Master Ronin, SEAL Team Five is brought to the Library of Divination in the realm of Divination by The Librarian. There, The Librarian informs the team of an impending doom that will soon be unleashed onto the universe. He soon uses his crystal ball to show the team of the heroes within the Eclipse Universe, displaying their final battle with Ronin. The Librarian soon explains that Master Ronin planned on using the Matter Orb to gain eternal life and incredible power, but due to his overuse of the relic, the darkness he absorbed overtook him, sending his soul to the Dark Realm while his body was morphed into the Cube of Darkness, which soon went into the Dark Realm as well. Chris soon questions him, asking what the impending doom was. The Librarian tells the team that their past has ultimately caught up with them, informing the team of the Prophets of the Soulless, saying that they were ancient beings who originated from Limbo, and were indirectly yet fully responsible for the creation of SEAL Team Five's Soulless. The Librarian continues, saying that their leader Echthroi was seeking out the Cube of Darkness, as well as the Book of Rituals, which The Librarian kept hidden within his library. Before The Librarian could explain what Echthroi was planning on doing with both items, the library was soon attacked. As fire began to consume the library, Echthroi himself and his Prophets appear and ambush the heroes, revealing that they have been eavesdropping on the conversation, as well as explaining that all these years the Prophets have been secretly following them since the first defeat of Xarcoh. Before the heroes could react, Echthroi activates his Fire powers and blasts The Librarian through the floor, trapping him in the library's basement. This causes a piece of the ceiling to fall apart, which nearly crushes the heroes. However, they are able to evade being crushed, but the hole leading to the basement becomes covered up. Laughing in victory, Echthroi uses his powers over Limbo's darkness to summon an army of zombies he and his forces acquired during the hunt for the four original Soulless before teleporting away, forcing the heroes to fend off the undead. As the four fought hard against the undead, the team would soon reach the basement after locating another entrance, where they regroup with The Librarian. As the entrance to the basement soon collapses, The Librarian soon manifests the Book of Rituals, saying that they needed to destroy the book before it was too late. However, Echthroi appears, throwing his sword at The Librarian and impaling him to the ground. Echthroi soon knocks the heroes down as a couple of his Prophets held the team at bay. As Echthroi picks up the discarded Book of Rituals, Rook questions what he was planning on doing. Echthroi explains that he is merely beginning a great prophecy before flipping through the pages of the book, ending up at a blank page at the end of the book. After a few moments, the pages begin to display text, as well as a drawing of the Cube of Darkness. Placing the book on the ground, Echthroi begins to read aloud the ritual, causing a rift to form. Suddenly, the Cube of Darkness emerges from the rift as it floats towards Echthroi's hand. Knowing what must be done, The Librarian charges up a beam of energy, blasting Echthroi aside and giving SEAL Team Five a brief moment to break free from their captors. Rook soon grabs ahold of the cube with his cybernetic arm, causing him great pain as the cube prints out its seven runes along his arm. Using the last of his strength, The Librarian uses his magic to teleport the heroes away to an unknown location. Furious over the loss of the cube, Echthroi rips out his sword from The Librarian's chest, saying that the prophecy in resurrecting Roach and Xarcoh cannot be avoid before driving the sword through The Librarian's neck, brutally killing The Librarian. Taking the sword out of The Librarian's lifeless corpse, Echthroi orders his men to begin "Phase 2" of their plan while he personally locates the cube. Teleporting away with his men, the rest of the library soon burns to ashes. Frozen Pride Sometime later after being teleported out of the burning Library of Divination, the team is discovered by a US arctic expeditionary team near the northern coastline of Antarctica. The arctic team soon brings the four aboard their research ship, the USS Statesman, and plots a course to return home immediately. After a day of recovering, the SEAL team informs the ship's crew of what occurred, saying that they must bring the Cube of Darkness to a secure location in order to prevent Echthroi from discovering its location. Unknown to everyone aboard the ship, Echthroi soon discovered the cube's location after tracking its energy source it was emitting through his connections with darkness. Two days later, as the ship continued onward towards the United States in the midst of a snowy night, Echthroi began his plan to re-secure the cube from the heroes. Sneaking into the cargo hold, Echthroi is able to locate the Cube of Darkness in a locked safe. Telekinetically ripping open the safe door, Echthroi grabs ahold of the cube. Upon activating it, it unleashes a powerful shockwave that soon disables the ship's engines, leaving the ship dead in the water, as well as infecting the crew located in the lower levels. As Echthroi orders his minions to destroy the rest of the survivors, he begins to examine the cube, tapping into its powers in order to unveil an easier way to complete the next steps in his plan. Echthroi is soon transported to a vision like dream world, where he discovers that the best location to resurrect the Dark Soldier was within a secure location within Limbo, which could only be accessed by creating a gateway with a large amount of cursed blood from a being who had previously wielded the cube's power. Meanwhile, the SEAL team finds themselves fighting for their lives as they desperately attempt to escape the overrun ship and secure the cube. After gaining access to the cargo hold after picking the lock on the door, the team discovers Echthroi waiting for them. Echthroi soon demands for Rook to surrender, saying that by giving himself up to Echthroi, he would allow the others to survive. Refusing the offer, the team opts to fight Echthroi, who simply scoffs at the comment, saying that he gave them a chance before engaging the heroes. After a brutal fight, Echthroi is seemingly defeated. However, as the team moves in to check on him, he soon springs up and grabs ahold of Rook. Echthroi begins to laugh, saying that with everything needed to complete his plan ready, the Dark Soldier would soon be reborn in the coming days. After using the Cube of Darkness to breach the hull of the ship, Echthroi teleports away with Rook as his prisoner. As the ship begins to sink, the remaining three rush back to the top deck, where they are able to get a lifeboat down into the water. After boarding the boat, Chris cuts the wires connecting the boat with the ship, allowing them to escape as the rest of the ship sinks to the bottom of the ocean. The following morning, the three are soon discovered by a US coast guard patrol, who was sent to locate survivors from the ship after receiving its distress call. As the helicopter flies back towards the United States, Chris comments to the others that they will find Rook. Gateway While the US Military began their search around the globe for Rook, the Prophets began "Phase 2" of their plan. Taking Rook to the Prophets' base, which was in fact the underground chambers in Tunisia where Xarcoh once tried to escape to Limbo, Echthroi and the Prophets began to draw up and create a device titled the Dark Mechanism, which would drain Rook of some of his cursed blood, allowing the Prophets to use it to open a rift to the resurrection site planned out in Limbo. Three days later, the US Military finally locates Rook after pinpointing his location with his tracker built into his arm. Realizing where he was, the SEAL team ordered to immediately move onto Tunisia, saying that it was where Xarcoh opened a gateway to Limbo in another timeline. As SEAL Team Five mobilized towards Tunisia, the Prophets finished the construction of the Dark Mechanism. Placing Rook inside the device, the Prophets began to painfully extract some of Rook's blood, draining it into a glass tube. Taking ahold of the tube, Echthroi soon opens up the Book of Rituals, where he soon performs a ritual with the blood to open a gateway to Limbo. Suddenly, the sounds of SEAL Team Five preparing the breach the lab could be heard aboveground. Knowing their location was compromised, Echthroi uses the Cube of Darkness to create another army of zombies after finishing the ritual, ordering them to destroy SEAL Team Five and to buy the Prophets some time to complete the resurrection ritual in Limbo. While the Prophets escape into the gateway, SEAL Team Five breaches the lab, only to see the gateway close. Fighting off the undead, the team is able to get Rook out of the Dark Mechanism and begin carrying him up to the surface. However, they soon discover that their extraction was taken out by the undead, forcing them to fight for their lives once again. Whilst fighting off the undead, the team returns to the Prophets' lab, where they begin to search for another way to open a gateway to Limbo. As the undead began to increase their numbers drastically, the team is forced to barricade themselves in the lab containing the Dark Mechanism. While Chris explains that they must keep fighting, Rook intervenes, saying that while his blood was being drained by the Prophets, he was able to look over Echthroi's shoulder to see an excerpt of the gateway ritual within the Book of Rituals, saying that if the being with cursed blood is to be completely drained of his blood and allows his soul to enter the Dark Mechanism, then another gateway could be automatically opened without reciting a ritual, although the gateway would not be as stable as the other option the Prophets took. As Rook explains he must make the ultimate sacrifice, the others soon begin to plea with Rook, saying that there has to be another way, but Rook tells them that there is no time left, saying that the Prophets are beginning the ritual to resurrect the Dark Soldier in Limbo already. After retrofitting the Dark Mechanism with more tubes, Rook willingly enters the Dark Mechanism again, allowing the device to siphon off his blood. As a rift begins to form, Rook explains that they must do everything in their power to prevent the resurrection of the Dark Soldier. As the final drops of his blood enter the tubes, Rook apologizes to the others before dying, his soul entering the orb above the mechanism. This causes the gateway to open, with the sounds of Echthroi laughing emerging from the gateway. Heartbroken over his sacrifice, the others vow to Rook's body that they will destroy the Prophets for what they've done before entering the rift. As the rift closes behind them, Rook's lifeless body suddenly smiles to himself before it faded away into darkness. Darkness Rises In Limbo, a portal forms within an underground cave network, with the three remaining members of SEAL Team Five stepping out of it. Chris soon reminds the others that they must prevent the Prophets from fulfilling the prophecy and resurrecting the Dark Soldier. At that moment, black smoke suddenly spews out of the ground, materializing into a figure wearing a black coat that the original Soulless once wore. The figure soon pulls off his hood, revealing himself to be Axel Miller, the Soulless counterpart of Alex "Rook" Miller. O'Ryan questions if he was an enemy, but Axel assures them that he is on their side, saying that the reason the original Soulless were evil was because of the Prophets corrupting them upon being created. At that moment, the entire ground shook, knocking down the team. Simultaneously aboveground, Echthroi and the Prophets are within the Temple of Resurrection reciting a spell within the Book of Rituals to open a rift to the Dark Realm in order to begin the process of resurrecting the Dark Soldier. With the Cube of Darkness on a central altar in the middle of the chamber, the cube begins to charge up with dark energy the more Echthroi reads the spell. Knowing they have to stop the Prophets, the team continues through the cave network, fighting through zombies created by the cube. After fighting through the caves, the team discovers a wall containing the Prophets' insignia. Using an explosive, the team destroys the wall, revealing an entrance into the Temple of Resurrection. As the team enters the temple, the cube finishes charging up, sending a beam of darkness into the sky and creating a portal to the Dark Realm. Echthroi soon signals one of his men, who then proceeds to bring out the Soul Jar and hands it to Echthroi. Echthroi soon opens the top of the jar and proceeds to release the imprisoned souls of Roach and Xarcoh. Laughing in victory, Echthroi explains to the souls that it was time to resurrect the two as the Dark Soldier, sending their souls into the Dark Realm. At that moment, a purple lighting bolt then strikes the Cube of Darkness, causing it to rapidly pulsate. Ignoring the bolt as simply part of the ritual, Echthroi begins to recite the spell to resurrect the Dark Soldier. Suddenly, SEAL Team Five enters the chamber, ordering the Prophets to stop. Shocked at their untimely arrival, Echthroi orders his men to destroy them as he continues with the spell. As the team fights off against the Prophets, Echthroi continues to recite the spell, causing everyone great pain except Axel, whom was unaffected. Axel then realizes that the spell would turn anyone in the proximity of the spell into Soulless. As everyone but Axel and Echthroi collapsed to the ground, Axel then engages Echthroi in hand-to-hand combat. As the echoing laugh of the Dark Soldier could be heard emerging from the portal, Axel is able to overpower Echthroi, throwing him into the central altar, breaking it and causing the Cube of Darkness to fall onto the ground, causing the Dark Soldier to scream out in pain from within the portal. Horrified over this, Echthroi explains that the Dark Soldier was nearly finished crossing the Ethereal Divide, saying that if he wants to ensure the Dark Soldier arrives, a sacrifice must be made. Punching Axel aside, Echthroi calls out to the Dark Soldier, saying he was willing to sacrifice himself to allow the Dark Soldier to finish crossing the divide. As Axel gets up from the ground, he sees Echthroi slowly walking over to where the central altar was. Suddenly, Echthroi is engulfed in a beam of darkness, causing him to scream out in pain. Horrified, Axel could only watch as Echthroi melted away into a dark essence, which soon ascended the beam and into the portal. The beam then soon vanished, with the sounds of thunder being heard as it echoed across the realm. As everyone else, now turned into Soulless, got up from the ground, a bright dark purple ball of energy shot out from the portal, landing in the center of the chamber. As the portal to the Dark Realm closed, the ball manifested itself into the Dark Soldier, who soon began to laugh out in victory. The Dark Soldier After finishing his laugh, the Dark Soldier picks up the Cube of Darkness and walks over to the temple's balcony, where he comments to everyone that the darkness in Limbo was weak and pitiful, stating that with his powers he was able to acquire from the Dark Realm, he would be able to show all universes what it feels to be part of eternal darkness forever. As the Prophets rejoice over his monologue and welcome the arrival of their new master, Axel quietly regroups with the other members of SEAL Team Five, who were turned into their Soulless counterparts, although they retained their selfhood and weren't corrupted like they originally were. Axel suggests they flee until they devise a new plan, but as they attempted to leave the room, the Dark Soldier telekinetically slammed the door shut on them. The Dark Soldier soon comments on SEAL Team Five's transformation into Soulless, saying that it was good to see "his old allies" in their true forms. The team asks what he planned on doing with them, questioning if he would kill them. The Dark Soldier replies that he would never truly hurt his friends, saying that he would merely test them to see their true worthiness to him. Using his powers, the Dark Soldier engulfs the area in darkness. As the darkness fades away, the team then finds themselves standing in a large foyer within a chamber. The Dark Soldier appears before them, saying that they are within the Chamber of Darkness on the Dark Island in Alaska, saying that the island has a special effect on those who control darkness, allowing them to amplify their powers to a cataclysmic scale. Axel remarks that they wouldn't allow him to unleash his power, saying that they will pass his trial and defeat him once and for all. The Dark Soldier then laughs, saying that's exactly what he wanted to hear. Teleporting away, the echoing screams of zombies then fill the chamber as the sound of the thunder could be heard. Knowing that this was the endgame, the team then begins to fight off the undead, fighting around the chamber until they reach the throne room, with half of the room being sealed off by a dark forcefield. The Dark Soldier soon appears on the other side of the forcefield, saying that their first challenge was to find a way to disable to forcefield before teleporting away. The team then continues fighting until they discover the Cube of Darkness within a secret compartment within the outside hedge maze. Bringing the Cube of Darkness to the throne room, the four utilize it to destroy the forcefield. As they approach the throne, the remaining Prophets soon drop down from the ceiling, saying that if they wished to prove themselves to the Dark Soldier, they must fight each and every one of the Prophets, who then proceed to strip away their guns. Knowing what they were referring to, the team then summons their Soulless weapons and engage the Prophets in a brutal fight to the death. Despite the Prophets' advantage in terms of numbers, they proved to be too weak against the combined efforts of the team, who were able to dispatch them all with their special weapons. As the Prophets laid in defeat on the ground, they remarked that they were ready for what was soon to happen. As they all faded away into nothingness, the throne moved aside, revealing a secret passageway. Knowing that the Dark Soldier was waiting for them, the team entered the passageway as the throne slid back into place. The team then finds themselves at the base of a large spire outside of the chamber as it begins to rain. Noticing the large staircase wrapping around the outside of the tower and the hordes of zombies along the stairs, the team realizes that this was the final challenge. Readying their weapons, the team fights their way up the stairs, fighting through wave after wave of zombies on the stairs. Eventually, the team reaches the top of the spire, where they see the Dark Soldier summoning a ball of darkness in the sky directly above the spire. As the stairs along the tower retract into it, the Dark Soldier commends the four for their efforts, saying that he knew they would pass. As the Dark Soldier turns to face the team, he questions if they are ready to join his side as he engulfs the universes in eternal darkness. The team refuses his offer, saying that all they want is to stop his madness and save their friend. The Dark Soldier then begins to laugh before taking off his facemask, revealing his face to be Roach's, but his skin was a blueish-pale color while his pupils were dark purple, with small cracks of darkness forming under and above his eyes. The Dark Soldier then coldly replies that there was nothing left to save of their friend before turning back to the forming ball of darkness above him. Snapping his fingers, the ball explodes, releasing dark clouds, which forms a dark hurricane above the spire, which soon begins to spread around the world and universes. The Dark Soldier soon laughs in victory, saying that there was nothing they could do to stop him. Unfazed by this, Axel says that they can try before engaging the Dark Soldier in a final battle for everything. As the battle raged on, the Dark Soldier continuously used his powers to block the team's attacks, saying that their weapons weren't powerful enough to stop the darkness, explaining that they would soon sleep in eternal darkness. As the Dark Soldier laughs yet again, this gives the team an idea as they pull out the Cube of Darkness, which suddenly shocks the Dark Soldier. Before he could react, the team begin to use the cube to shoot out beams of darkness, which begin to harm the Dark Soldier. Frustrated that his own darkness was being used against him, the Dark Soldier begins to charge towards the team, forcing them to launch one last powerful attack with the cube. Sending out a massive beam, it soon pierces through the Dark Soldier's chest, causing him to stop in his tracks and collapse to the ground while severely weakening the team. As the team looks back towards the Dark Soldier, they are shocked to see him getting back up and begin to slowly walk towards the team. To their surprise, the Dark Soldier begins to plea with them, saying that if they destroy him, then all of his influence would be erased, which by extent would also erase them from existence as well. As the team nods to each other, Axel replies that they were willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to save the universes before shoving the Cube of Darkness into his open chest wound. Using the last of their strength, the team use the Cube of Darkness to send devastating amounts of energy throughout the Dark Soldier's body. As the Dark Soldier lets out one last scream, Xirsch tells the others that it was an honor to serve with them for all these years. As a bright light begins to form inside his chest wound, the Dark Soldier solemnly replies to Xirsch's comment, saying that he was sorry for what he has done. Soon, the entire area is engulfed in a blinding light, which soon explodes, sending a bright shockwave across the universe, purging it of the Dark Soldier's darkness. Back at the Dark Island, the entire Chamber of Darkness was destroyed; all that remained was some of it stonework. In the midst of these ruins was the Cube of Darkness, which managed to survive the aftermath of the battle. As the sun broke through the cloud layer and shined upon the world, the cube began to pulse and flash once again as Master Ronin began to faintly laugh from within it. Characters * Alex "Rook" Miller (playable, K.I.A.) * O'Ryan/Yaxnor (playable, wiped from existence) * Chris/Xirsch (playable, wiped from existence) * TJ/J.X.T. (playable, wiped from existence) * Axel Miller (playable, wiped from existence) * Echthroi (deceased) * Prophets of the Soulless (deceased) * Dark Soldier (wiped from existence) * The Librarian (deceased) * "Athena" (vision only) * Alain Bourden (vision only) * Jack McMack (vision only) * Ben Crawford (vision only) * Master Ronin Maps Forgotten Past.png|1. Forgotten Past Frozen Pride.png|2. Frozen Pride Gateway.jpg|3. Gateway Darkness Rises.jpg|4. Darkness Rises The Dark Soldier.jpg|5. The Dark Soldier Weapons The saga reintroduces weapons previously featured in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, a trend that was started in The Eclipse War. Assault Rifles * Bal-27 * AK12 * ARX-160 * HBRa3 * IMR * MK14 * AE4 * Volk Mk II Submachine Guns * KF5 * MP11 * ASM1 * SN6 * SAC3 * AMR9 * Repulsor Heavy Weapons * EM1 * Pytaek * XMG * EPM3 * Ameli * Ohm Shotguns * Tac-19 * S-12 * Bulldog * CEL-3 Cauterizer Sniper Rifles * Lynx * MORS * Atlas 20mm * SVO Pistols * Atlas 45 * RW1 * MP-443 Grach * PDW Special Weapons * Crossbow * MAHEM * M1 Irons * Blunderbuss Videos Captain America The Winter Soldier OST 17 - End Of The Line by Henry Jackman|Main theme of the saga. Trivia *This is the last saga to feature SEAL Team Five as playable characters, while it is also the first saga to feature their Soulless counterparts as playable characters. *This saga contains the most amount of character deaths in a single non-movie saga of the Roach Chronicles. Category:Age of the Soulless